Stuck in a Tree
by PrincessSara1998
Summary: Short story about Lumpy getting stuck in a tree after helping a little bird back to its nest. And it doesn't help that another bird wants to coerce him into letting go.


One warm day, Lumpy was taking a walk through the forest. He stopped to take a break at a tree, only to find a little red bird sitting on the ground. It looked pretty sad for some reason. Out of sympathy, Lumpy reached down and picked it up.

"What's the matter, little guy?" Lumpy asked in a soothing voice.

The little bird pointed up to the tree above it with one of its wing feathers, and Lumpy looked up. He could see a nest sitting on one of the tree branches.

"You fell out of your nest?" Lumpy quickly felt sorry for the unfortunate bird. He stroked the top of the bird's head with his forefinger, trying to comfort it. "Oh, I'm so sorry..." Knowing what he had to do - this hadn't been the first time he had to help a bird - he then smiled reassuringly at the bird. "Don't worry, though. I'll help you back up there."

Holding the bird with one hand, Lumpy went over to the tree and began to climb it with his other hand. It was kind of hard for Lumpy to lose his grip, but he managed to avoid doing that until he reached the right branch. When he made it, he hung onto it with one hand. He looked at the nest happily, and then opened his hand that held the bird. The bird hopped over to the nest and sat down in it, chirping happily.

"There you go!" Lumpy said with a satisfied smile. He pet the bird's head again, as gently as he could. "You be careful, now; it's a big world out there."

Then, however, Lumpy looked down at the ground below him. Immediately, his smile disappeared as his eyes widened and pupils shrunk. He was quite a few feet away from the ground, and if he let go of the branch he was hanging onto, there was a big chance he would fall and hurt himself. He didn't want that. Lumpy looked back at the base of the tree he had climbed, but didn't know if he could climb back there.

"Uh... help?" Lumpy whimpered as he hung from the branch. There was no reply, so Lumpy raised his volume a little. "Hey! Help! Help me! I'm up here!"

Still no response. Only the sounds of other chirping birds accompanied by the wind. Lumpy whimpered a little in fear. He was stuck up in this tree, with no one to save him.

"Oh, no... what should I do...?" Lumpy said to himself. "How can I get down from here?!"

As Lumpy thought of a possible solution, another bird that was flying through the air landed on the branch, just inches away from him. This bird was a little larger than the one Lumpy had saved, and was orange in color. Just as Lumpy got a look at it, the bird looked right back at him, staring into his eyes. Lumpy looked at the bird nervously at first, then smiled sheepishly at it.

"Um, hi?" Lumpy waved a little with his free hand.

After he had said that, the bird walked over to Lumpy's hand, which was still clinging onto the branch. The bird poked it lightly with its beak, causing Lumpy to wince, but he still held on.

"Ow!" Lumpy said. The bird poked Lumpy's hand again, making him cringe again. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

The bird didn't respond, however, since it didn't speak the same language Lumpy spoke. The moose didn't realize that, however. Lumpy reached up to rub his poked hand, and then kept hanging onto the branch. The bird let him do so, but once Lumpy was finished, the bird began to stroke the tops of Lumpy's fingers with its wing. It tickled, causing Lumpy to giggle.

"Hehe... Hehehehe!" Lumpy's hand winced a little, but he wouldn't let his guard down. "D-don't do that!"

The bird moved its wing to the palm of Lumpy's hand and kept tickling him with its wing feathers. Lumpy started laughing more.

"Hahahahaha!" Lumpy squirmed around a little. "St-stop! Hahahaha, it tickles! Hahaha!"

After a few seconds of this, the bird finally pulled its wing away from Lumpy's hand. Lumpy panted a few times as he smiled. The tickling felt good, even though it wasn't a good time for him to receive them.

"Thanks..." Lumpy said to the bird. "But if you wanna tickle me, would you do me a favor and wait a little bit? I'm in a bit of a pinch right now..."

Not responding, the bird flew over to Lumpy's face and onto his nose, to his surprise. His pupils shrunk as he knew what was going to happen.

"No... please, don't!" Lumpy begged, sounding desperate.

The bird began to move its wing right on the base of Lumpy's nose, causing it to twitch as it tickled. Lumpy knew what was going to happen: he was going to sneeze. But he wasn't going to let it happen. He wiggled his nose a little, trying to calm the growing itch in his nose, but the bird kept tickling it. Lumpy sniffled mildly, but ended up smelling the scent of the bird's feathers, making his nose tickle even more.

Finally, Lumpy shook his head rapidly, knocking the bird off his nose. The bird was sent into the air, but it flapped its wings to keep itself afloat. As the tickle in Lumpy's nose died down, the moose rubbed his nostrils with his forefinger to further keep the sneeze from coming. The itch reduced to almost nothing, Lumpy sighed in relief as he swiped his finger away from his nose.

"Phew! That was a close one..." Lumpy said to himself.

The bird, however, gained an angry expression before it flew right back onto Lumpy's nose. Lumpy cringed a little, then looked at it questioningly. What the twig-eater didn't realize, however, was that the bird wasn't happy to see Lumpy counter his sneeze like that. That wasn't what it wanted him to do. It wanted to see him release and let go.

The bird reached its wing behind its back and removed a single long, fluffy feather from its tail. It then lowered the feather to the end of the moose's nose and began to wiggle the feather right underneath Lumpy's nostrils. Lumpy's eyes widened and pupils shrunk when he saw this happen. His nose began to twitch constantly and his nostrils flared up to twice their size. The sneeze was coming back. Lumpy's eyes fell closed as his breath began to hitch.

"Aaaaaah..." Lumpy's nose continued to twitch and tickle as the bird continued tickling his nose. "AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAH..." Lumpy tilted his neck back as he gave a stronger breath. The bird quickly stopped tickling Lumpy's nose, but not before intentionally letting go of the feather it had been using to torture Lumpy's nostrils. The soft feather danced its way into Lumpy's nostril, increasing the tickle by about ten. Lumpy tilted his upper body as far back as it could, gave a final inhale, and then exploded massively.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- TCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy let go of the tree as he unleashed the sneeze, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth. The feather shot out of his nostril during the loud sneeze, instantly bringing the tedious tickle to an end. But then gravity kicked in and Lumpy fell to the ground, landing on his back.

"Ugh... ow..." Lumpy sat up as he sniffled and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. He stood up and checked his back for any cuts or scrapes. Fortunately, he found none; just some pieces of grass from the ground where he landed. Lumpy took a deep breath and sighed with relief, partially because he wasn't seriously hurt, and partially because he was finally out of the tree. But then he looked up at the tree above him and sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head in dismay.

"That darn bird... I'd hate to see it do that to me again," said Lumpy.

On the branch, the bird had landed back on the branch, amused and satisfied at what it had done. It placed the end of its wing over its beak as it giggled cutely to itself.

Lumpy sniffled again as he went back on his walk, still rubbing his nose. It would take him a few minutes to recover from his sneeze, but he was going to be fine. After all, at least he was out of the tree.


End file.
